Midnight Sun La Mâitresse du Moine

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Deep, rich garnet colour with an ample beige head two fingers in size. Complex aroma of dates, over ripe fruit, caramel and malt, raison, alcohol and vineous notes as well. Taste is equally intruiging wih flavors of chocolate, toffee, malt, ripe fruit, raison, bread, a multitude of spice and a light smokiness. Modest carbonation with fantastic head retention. Full rich mouthfell and a slightly dry finish.

The one minor shortcoming of this beer was its mouthfeel. Great label -- contemporary artsy without being crappy. Hazy, dark walnut colored beer. Rich, fruity, yeasty smelling brew. Dark, syrupy flavors, some vegetable/green nut, cocoa, wild cherry. Tangy. Mildly astringent in the finish. Thanks to PorterPounder for hauling this from Anchhorage back to Florida.

Picked up at the brewery in Anchorage and it survived the long trip back to Florida. Dark, dark, murky copper appearance with a generous off white head. Aroma is not as strong as expected - has some toffee accents and a slight chocolate bent - still nice. Mouthfeel could be a bit thicker. Flavor has some baked brown bread notes, sweet candy sugar and some malty dates and raisins. Overall, a great beer, and good to see a small brewer like this getting the recognition.

Special draft at a local pub. Not as impressive as its ratings suggested. Old keg? Bad lines? Looked right, but the nose was of musty malt. Missing the floral notes. Taste was dampened by the same maltiness. Small bits of plum and fruit peeked through. Drinbkable but disappointing.

8/28/04. Poured out of 22 oz. bottle, sampled at Dr. Bill and Steiny’s 8th Annual 12-Hour Beer Festival in Orange, CA 8/28/04. Pours a very dark, slightly hazy brown. Big, fluffy tan head with fluffy and good, if lumpy, lacing. Nose is dark malts and a touch of spice, brown bread with brown sugar and a touch of yeast. Nice and subtle, if subtly badass and dark. Big dark dirty flavor-- bread, cake, hints of molasses big hops and a sharp peppery alcohol sting with a complement of shadowy smoke. Some dark dried fruits in there almost like a Belgian trappist quad. Very delicious rounding finish with sort of a dirty barley wine malt edge and bread all over the place. Wonderfully round and rich.. Dark and luscious. Just a touch too much alcohol, otherwise it would be damn awesome. I would love to get some of this aged.

Bottle, Lite nose, ddried fruits. Brownish color. Spicy sweet flavors, though mellow. Thin body. Spicy dry finish. Disappointed overall, kind of assuming bad bottle by other ratings. Will have to revisit.

Very big head. Ruby brown. Sweet fruit aroma. Nice drinkable beer. More like a thin java stout. Smokey chocolate flavour. Slightly sour.

Thanks So Very Much to rater Kinz for sending me this allusive brew! I have been wanting to sample this beer for over a year now!

Rating # 570
Bottle dated 1st week of September 2003
This beer was carbonated like none other! I popped the cap and FSSSSSSIT, a loud gust of carbonation. Pours a shadowy dark amber body.. almost brown in color. The head is a massive and rocky kaki foam. The lacing is ridiculous… it cloaks the inner glass with the finniest film and lacey bubbles.
This beer is nothing like I was expecting! Actually, I don’t know what I was expecting but I don’t think it was this? The aroma is sweet with chocolate, toffee, and molasses and lightly smoky… Fruity notes of figs, dates, and chocolate covered orange sections. Man, you don’t have many Belgian Strong Ales with such a character of a porter style beer. I’m finding large notes of coffee in the flavor but with that yeasty, spicy and doughy flavor that typifies the BSA’s. There are such immense suggestions of chocolate and vanilla in the brew… it’s incredible! There are also big suggestions of raisins, black pepper and tangerine zests. Honestly, I think this could be a Belgian style Imperial Stout!
The palate is very sticky but velvety. I don’t know what was done differently to this beer but the carbonation is as awesome sensation! The finish is filled a smoky molasses…. Yeah, this is a superb brew!